Ten months after being sworn in as the first openly gay man to serve as a public official in the state of California, Harvey Milk, along with Mayor Moscone, was shot and killed in his office by Dan White, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors at the time. White avoided being convicted of murder with what is now known as the "Twinkie Defense". After being released from prison less than two years later, White killed himself, and was often referred to as "perhaps the most hated man in San Francisco's history."